Senior and four-year starter Joe Marciano came through, capping a frantic final 30 seconds with a hard driving layup with six ticks left as the host Mustangs outlasted North Hunterdon, 68-67, in Wednesday’s championship game of the Gene Haley Memorial Tournament in Iselin.

“”This is what high school sports is all about,” Kennedy head coach Chris Banos said. “”Both teams fought to the end. Even if we lost this game, I’d be proud of my guys. Everyone’s exhausted, they just gave everything they had to the final seconds.”

Marciano had a game-high 22 points, while Lions senior captain Kyle Malavasi led his team with 20. Malavasi had a decent look to win it as time expired, but just missed.

Up 62-60 in double overtime, the Mustangs allowed Malavasi to hit a go-ahead 3-pointer, but answered with a quick jumper. North junior Chris Bellofatto then scored on a put back for the 65-64 advantage.

North Hunterdon (1-3) got possession after Kennedy senior Rasheed Howard couldn’t hit from short range, but teammate A.J. Pichalski stripped it and pushed it back up the court. Howard ended up with the ball, and didn’t miss this time for the one-point lead.

Bellofatto came right back down the court with a transition layup, but the Mustangs went right back the other way and took the lead for good on Marciano’s bucket with six seconds left.

”I knew we had 11 seconds left, and I wanted to get down the floor,” Marciano said. “”Hopefully get to the rim and maybe get a foul if I didn’t make the basket. Fortunately, I made it.”

North Hunterdon drew up a play, and Malavasi brought the ball inside the arc, but couldn’t get the shot to fall. Bellofatto finished with 15 points for the Lions, while Rogan chipped in with 14.

Despite combining for 40 points, Marciano and Howard — J.F. Kennedy’s top returning scorers from a year ago — were somewhat ineffective in regulation, particularly the first half. Howard played sparsley while picking up three fouls, and had just two points at the half. Marciano had eight at that point, but seemed to be forcing the issue and missed a handful of shots with Howard on the bench.

Instead, it was junior Daishon Robinson who gave the Mustangs a huge boost. He finished with 17 points, turned in a strong defensive effort and was even his team’s most effective rebounder during regulation. He wasn’t as big a factor in the overtimes, but if not for him, Kennedy likely wouldn’t have made it that far.

“”Guys always think we’re just a two-man team, but we’re not,” Banos said. “”All five guys on the floor played together, and Daishon is starting to come into his own. He’s just a junior, but he can play. And people had better recognize that, because if not, he’s going to be hurting a lot of people.”

The Mustangs also got a huge boost at the free throw line, where they hit their first 16 fouls shots — including all 15 in regulation — and finished 17-of-20.

“”We had a close (loss) against Highland Park this year, but we were 9-for-20,” Marciano said. “”Coach has really been stressing it, and we’ve been working on it, so it helped.”

Meanwhile, the charity stripe haunted the Lions, who won their opener in part on the strength of a poor night from the line by Carteret. They seemingly had the game in hand with two minutes left in regulation and nursing a six-point lead. But three different players missed the front end of one-and-ones, allowed Kennedy to crawl back into it, ultimately tying the game on a Howard bucket in the paint with 40 seconds. After running some clock off, Malavasi had a chance to win it, but the Mustangs’ got a good defensive play from senior guard Rameez Rathore, who turned the shot away and sent Kennedy to victory.

“”We gave the game away,” Lions head coach Jeff Tagliarini said. “”Six-point lead with the ball, we missed three one-and-ones. End of game. There’s nothing else to say.”

Kennedy is the first team from Middlesex County to claim the title at the long-running tournament since 2005. Since then, Montgomery has won it twice, while Bloomfield won it last year. For Banos, it was not only sweet to bring the trophy back home, but to hopefully give his team a boost heading into the new year.

“”The way we’ve been going over the years, I’m trying to get the kids to believe we’re good this year,” Banos said. “”And I hope this shows them, and basically carries us through the rest of the season.”

About Mike New

Mike New is former writer at the Home News Tribune, having covered Middlesex County softball in 2009 and 2010. A 2008 graduate of Rutgers University, he served as sports editor and managing editor of The Daily Targum. Now an assistant in the publishing world, he has returned to In the Paint and will be a weekly contributor on Sundays.